Learning outcomes

Regarding learning outcomes for students, the course mainly aims at the acquisition of knowledge, the application of a scientific approach and the reasoning as a socially responsible stakeholder. To a lesser extent, it also aims to enhance students’ communication skills as well as their personal and professional self-development.

Goals

The aim of this course is to broaden students' knowledge of concepts and processes related to the study of consumers and consumption, mainly borrowed from cognitive psychology, social psychology, and postmodern research. This course objective is to distance students from the classic paradigm of homo oeconomicus to get them to consider the consumer as much from its cognitive as emotional and behavioral aspects.

Content

This course includes four parts. The first part entitled “Consumers in the marketplace” offers an introduction to the core concepts of consumer behavior, to the consumer society and to the discipline’s dominant trends. In the second part, the focus is on consumers as individuals. More specifically, we describe how they see the world and themselves through outlining the perception, self-construction and motivation processes. The third part is about consumers as decision-makers. We investigate how consumers make their product and brand decisions, first by considering the learning and memory processes that underlie decision-making, next by describing the way attitudes are formed, and finally, by suggesting a global model of individual decision-making. Finally, the last part of the course examines environmental factors that influence decisions and behaviors (group and family influences, social classes, culture, etc.). While lecturing, we will take a particular care in examining the importance and implications of analyzing consumer behavior for marketing strategy and operations.

Table of contents

Part A: Consumers in the marketplace

  1. An introduction to consumer behaviour
  2. A consumer society
  3. Consumers’ decision-making

Part B: How consumers see the world and themselves

  1. Perception
  2. Personality and the self
  3. Motivation, values and lifestyle

Part C: Consumers as decision-makers

  1. Learning and memory
  2. Attitudes
  3. Biases in decision-making

Part D: Consumers in their socio-cultural environment

  1. Groups and social media
  2. Culture and consumer behaviour

Assessment method

The evaluation of students will be made by means of a paper and a written examination.

  • Videography (25%): Students are asked to make groups of two and to produce a 5-10 minutes’ videography on an issue related to consumer behavior (e.g., paradoxes in postmodern consumption). Each video is presented and discussed during the last session of the course.
  • Final exam (75%): Final evaluation is made by means of a written examination covering all the topics and papers discussed in the classroom. Questions are developed to assess the two following aspects: (1) Students’ understanding of concepts and processes; (2) Students’ ability to apply those concepts and processes to real (business) life situations.

Sources, references and any support material

Course pack (slides) is available before the course on the webcampus platform.

The main reference textbook for this course is:

Solomon, M.R., Askegaard, S.T., Hogg, & M.K. Bamossy, G.J., (2019). Consumer Behaviour: A European Perspective, Harlow: Pearson (7th edition).

Other recommended references are:

·       Arnould, E., Price, L., & Zinkham, G. (2004). Consumers. McGraw-Hill/Irwin (2nd ed.).

·       Decrop, A. (2010). Le touriste consommateur. Comprendre les comportements pour améliorer son efficacité marketing, Bruxelles: De Boeck. 

·       Hoyer, W.D., MacInnis, D.J., & Pieters, R. (2018). Consumer Behavior. South-Western. Cengage Learning (7th international ed.)

Language of instruction

Anglais